Encapsulation in Java

• The ability of an object to be a container for its member properties, including variables and methods.
• A fundamental principle of OOP, encapsulation plays a major role in languages such as C++ and Java.
• Hides variables from the rest of the program
• Use getter/setter methods that are public to access them
• Variables marked as private can only be seen/modified through the use of public accessor (getter) and mutator (setter) methods

Advantages

• Helps you to control who accesses what
  • Which function has access to a certain variable
• Makes a code flexible and easy to change
• Testing is more manageable (unit)

Notes

• An object's behavior is exposed through methods
• Hiding internal data from the outside world
• Accessing it only through publicly exposed methods